


Please Stay

by celestialassassin



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 03:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13045692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialassassin/pseuds/celestialassassin
Summary: Barba gets attacked in his apartment a week after getting threatened on the stairs. Someone comes to his rescue, and stays close by after to make sure he is safe. Guardian angel AU where Sonny and Barba haven’t met yet but they will in this encounter.





	Please Stay

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays! I haven't written fanfic in a long time but I really like these two so I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Warnings: Violence, threats, injury, minor death.

It had been a whole year since the threats started, but this was the first time anyone had the _cojones_ to confront him and threaten him in person. The man was taller and bulkier than him, and could clearly make good on his promise of killing him. That's not the way Rafael won fights. He relied on words full of emotion and passion hoping it would sway someone in his favor. He relied on bluffs, hoping if he had enough confidence an entire fight could be avoided by the other backing down. That's how fights were won in a courtroom, but right here, right now, on these steps in front of these people Rafael couldn't help but feel scared.

_Fear keeps you alive. Only the strong survive._ That's something he had to learn early on growing up in the Bronx. When you were afraid you had to act on it. Fight or flight, there was no time to freeze, though no one would blame him if he did.

He would confront this person the same way he dealt with every problem he came across. Head on.

"Is that a threat?" his tone calm, not caring, trying to brush the other man off.

"A threat? No. A threat would be right here, right now, I shove you down these steps and get your skull cracked open. Bleeding to death." the man retorted, tone laced in malice and false promise.

Rafael held back a scoff. The other man really must be stupid to threaten him in broad daylight in front of all these witnesses and cameras.

“Right here in front of all these people? Maybe they wouldn't be able to save me but they sure as hell would catch you.” he wouldn’t let his bravado fade, he wouldn’t let some face in the crowd intimidate him. He never broke eye contact with the man, wanting him to know that his eyes held no fear.

Pulling out a scrap of paper and a pen from the breast pocket of his coat he began to scribble down his home address and phone number.

“So, _amiguito_ , I'll tell you what. You want to kill a D.A.? Right _here_? Surrounded by all these cops and cameras? And spend the rest of your life in prison? Here's my home address. You come by anytime you want.” his face unwavering from his stone-faced expression. This man would not see his fear.

The man left after he snatched the note from Rafael, roughly brushing his shoulder. Just as quickly as it started, his adrenaline rush had ended, and he could feel himself finding it hard to breathe. If he wasn’t aware that he was standing on the edge of a step he might have fallen over. Olivia was there at his side with Dodd’s and he explained everything.

\---

They caught the man who had threatened him, and he was genuinely offended that it cost so little to threaten him. The entire week was a mess. The precinct had bigger problems to deal with than his little threats, and he had been handling them just fine for the whole year.

After he felt safe enough, he went back to living in his own home. He had declined Olivia’s offer of having someone stationed near him, she had enough to deal with, he didn’t want her worrying about him. He convinced her that he was fine, and she seemed to buy it.

He had forgotten how quiet his apartment was. The only sound was his shoes lightly clicking against the hardwood floor. Letting out a sigh, he set down his briefcase on the floor and started to slip off his scarf. The entire weeks’ worth of stress finally rolling off of his shoulders. It was good to be home.

After getting comfortable, he figured he deserved a nice long shower. Heading towards the bathroom for a long-awaited shower, he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard shuffling coming from his bedroom.

At first, he played it off as only begin his imagination, until a loud crash was heard from the same room. His blood ran cold as the noise had pulled him from out of his thoughts.

Was he imagining things? No, there was definitely a sound that came from his room. Even in his stressed-out state of mind, he couldn’t just imagine this.

Patting his pockets, he frantically looked for his phone in order to call the police. Why didn’t he have it with him? In midst of his panicking, he saw a dark figure move in front of him and disappear into one of the other rooms in his apartment.

Rafael didn’t have time to think, his instincts told him to run. He bolted towards the front door as fast as he could, not bothering to look back or check his surroundings. Barba felt the world fall from under him as he tripped over the rug and fell hard on the floor with a loud thud.

Dull pain ached through his body, his breathing becoming uneven with fear and anxiety. His breath shuddered, and arms trembled as he tried to pick himself up off the floor. He froze again when he realized the figure he had seen before was now standing right in front of him.

Barba slowly lifted his head to see the face of his attacker, but it was so dark he couldn’t make out any features. He swallowed hard, his pupils blown from the terror. If he didn’t make a run for it now he never would. So, he pushed himself up and began to run in the opposite direction of the intruder.

He didn’t get very far, as the attacker wrapped an arm around his neck and forcefully pulled him back. With the other hand, pushed a handkerchief that had been doused in something Barba couldn’t identify, into the ADA’s face trying to get him to inhale the fumes coming from it.

Barba struggled as hard as he could against the assailant, but the other person made sure to keep him in place. He had never felt this scared in his entire life and there was no one here to help. He felt his vision start to darken and his mind began to feel fuzzy from the chemicals.

Then, everything stopped with the loud bang of a gunshot. The man stiffened, and his grip loosened, letting the counselor go. Barba felt something warm splatter on the back of his neck and a heavy thud hit the hardwood floor. His ears were ringing from being in such close proximity of the gunshot, and his entire body felt shaky from the stress of the entire situation.

“It’s okay he’s not going to hurt you again.”

The voice had pulled him from out of his thoughts. The voice didn’t belong to anyone he recognized, it was slightly accented, and soft. It was comforting to hear. This person had saved him. He hesitantly turned his body to face his savior, his breath coming out in quickly bursts.

The first thing he noticed was that the man had a lean build, and that his attacker’s blood was painted all over his face. The man’s blue eyes bright in contrast to the dark red blood that was splattered all over his fair skin. The second thing he noticed were the giant transparent white wings that looked like they sprouted from his savior’s back.

‘ _I must be seeing things_ ,’ Barba thought to himself, ‘ _whatever was on that handkerchief probably played with my state of mind_.’

“Who are you?” Barba felt himself ask, trying not to let the panic show in his tone. The man wasn’t dressed in a police uniform, but wore a dark suit, with a white shirt underneath and a thin black tie. Maybe he was a neighbor he’d never met. Even in his traumatized state, he could see the man was very handsome and exactly his type. He quickly pushed the thought out of his head.

“Your guardian angel, of course.” the man’s lips tugged into a lighthearted grin, his wings stretching and moving as if to prove his point.

Barba was taken aback by the easy confession. Those wings were real? Or was this some type of awful joke that someone decided to play on him?

“You don’t expect me to believe that do you?”  Barba was all about facts. Yet, every thought he had could be explained by the ‘guardian angel’ answer.

As if by some miracle, this man shows up when Rafael needs him most. The wings were extremely realistic, and lastly, the man wouldn’t gain anything by telling him that he was a guardian angel. Everything fit in, except the fact that angels DON’T exist.

“Well, not everyone believes it. But I saved you, isn’t that all that matters?” his voice was soft and patient with Barba. It reminded him of Olivia’s tone when she spoke with victims. Which it was a bit ironic that it was him that was now a victim who needed comforting.

The accent is something Barba couldn’t get over. It sounded like the man was from Staten Island but if this was truly an angel, why would he have that accent?

“What’s with the accent? I thought you were an angel.” Barba was good at arguments and finding things that were wrong with supposed facts. Even with one slip up with misinformation could win or lose an entire case.

“I figured this was a form you would be the most comfortable with. The accent included. You seem a bit stressed out right now.” The man was ready with answers to Barba’s questions. 

'A bit stressed out' was the understatement of the year. Yet, he ‘angel’ was right, Barba couldn’t take him seriously with the accent it was almost funny.

“Why go out of your way to protect me? I’m not exactly devout.” he crossed his arms over his chest. The conversation made him almost completely forget about the dead man bleeding out on his floor. He wanted answers. What him so special that he got a guardian angel? Weren’t there more people, _better_ people, who deserved this more than he did?

“They don’t tell me why, they just tell me who to protect.” The man stepped closer to Barba, putting his gun in its holster as he did. Barba uncrossed his arms, taking a few slow steps back.

The angel cupped Barba’s face and looked him in the eyes. Rafael was too shocked to move, but he felt at peace when he finally felt the other’s warm hands hold his face. He felt like a pleasant light was touching his face and it spread through his entire body.

Barba’s hair was disheveled from the fight and his face had some injuries, but the way the man looked at him made him feel like none of that mattered. The man looked at him like Barba had hung the stars in the sky. His blue eyes held a certain fondness and there was a small crinkle in the corner of his eyes. Barba thought the man was gorgeous.

“It means that your destined for something great and nothing can stop you from it. I’m here to keep you safe. Even at the cost of my own existence.” his voice was smooth, and tone sounded sincere. The voice made Barba feel safe. Like he had been transported away from the events that had just taken place into somewhere where no harm would come to him.

After a moment of holding his face, the angel finally let go. A smile still present on his face as his looked at Barba. Barba couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the stop of the contact. The taller man turned to leave.

“My human name is Dominick Carisi, Jr.” the angel had started, and then turned to face Barba, a playful smile on his face, “But you can call me Sonny.”

The name seemed fitting. A beautiful name for a beautiful man. Barba felt himself reach out for Sonny. He didn’t want him to go. He didn’t want to be alone to deal with the aftermath of what had happened here.

“Sonny…” he called out, hoping his tone wasn’t too desperate. Taking a few steps towards the angel, said angel turning back around when he was called.

“Stay...please.” Barba pleaded. His eyes glossed over with unshed tears, still shaking when shock started settling back in. The comfort he felt earlier, the peace his entire body felt when the man touched him. It wasn’t something he wanted to lose. He wanted Sonny here with him.

“Of course, counselor.”


End file.
